Keep focus on Afghan exit

To a particular group of Oregonians, this week's presidential visit to Afghanistan, and announcement of a new agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, have a particular significance. The 1186th Military Police company of the Oregon Army National Guard serves there, symbolizing the reality of Americans, and Oregonians, continuing to fight and die there.

President Obama's trip, including a speech to Americans from Kabul, featured a commitment to an American presence in Afghanistan until 2024. But Obama also reaffirmed the important policy pledge of ending U.S. combat involvement next year. The question is whether, with the prospect of thousands of U.S. troops remaining there for years in training and advisory capacities, the two commitments don't contradict each other.

"I have a feeling this is going to be continuously revisited as things evolve in Afghanistan," said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., after the president's trip. "There are aspects of this I have concerns about. I like that we're recommitting to getting out of combat by 2013," but he's concerned about what the United States could find itself doing "under the umbrella of responding to terror."

Merkley introduced, and saw passed through the Senate, a resolution to speed up the timetable of the U.S. withdrawal. That statement fits the widespread attitude in the United States, that there are limits to how much more Americans -- and particularly American servicemen -- can be asked to give.

In his speech, Obama declared, "Over the last three years, the tide has turned. ... The goal that I set – to defeat al-Qaida, and deny it a chance to rebuild – is within reach." He pledged that American troops would come home, while insisting, "We must finish the job we started in Afghanistan, and end this war responsibly."

What has been accomplished in Afghanistan should not be dismissed. As the president noted, it is no longer the terrorist stronghold that sent forth the 9/11 killers. As Sima Samar, chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, argued when she spoke in Portland last month, there have been dramatic changes in Afghan society: The number of Afghan girls -- and boys -- in school is up sharply. Instead of one TV station, there are now 30, and instead of one radio station, 350.

But as we've learned over the past decade, there are limits to what we can achieve. As Merkley warns, "This is a country with a very deep distrust of foreigners."

That message was underlined with three sizable and lethal attacks in Kabul immediately after Obama departed.

The United States has had a legitimate mission in Afghanistan, and legitimate accomplishments, and will continue to have legitimate interests. But as Merkley points out, we've reached a point where we should have a policy and a clear direction: U.S. combat troops out.